LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Kobe Bryant has the solution for the Lakers’ troubles: find the Fountain of Youth.
Following the Lakers’ loss to the Philadelphia Sixers on New Year’s Day, the 34-year-old superstar said the team’s recent struggles can largely be blamed on their aging roster.
“It’s because we’re old as (expletive),” Bryant said. “We just gotta figure out how to play when we don’t have that energy. We have to change things up a little bit defensively, we have to figure out what we want to do offensively.”
The loss on Tuesday dropped the Lakers to the team’s worst start after 31 games since the 2002-03 season, when the then-reigning back-to-back champs sputtered to a 12-19 start.
Bryant told ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd that in order for the team to move forward, they must first acknowledge the problem.
“We start with the idea of knowing that we’re slow, knowing that we’re old, and then it’s figuring out…’Alright, now how do we compensate for it?’” said Bryant.
While center Dwight Howard remains the youngest star in the starting lineup at 27, he continues to struggle under coach Mike D’Antoni and his role in sharing the paint with 32-year-old Pau Gasol.
And while the roster is the fourth-oldest in the NBA, Bryant believes the Lakers can still contend for a title in June.
“We firmly believe it’s gonna happen, but we gotta do a lot of work physically to get there,” he said.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/01/02/kobe-lakers-too-old-slow/
